Angels’ Starter Is Out Early, and the Yankees Cruise

As Los Angeles Angels Manager Mike Scioscia made a premature stroll out to the mound Saturday night, Garrett Richards could not look. He kept his neck craned and stared toward the video board in center field, where some ghastly first-inning numbers were being displayed for all to see: six runs and five hits allowed, and only two outs.

Scioscia did not wait to determine if Richards could complete his opening inning against the red-hot Yankees, and Richards did not dawdle in his humiliating retreat to the dugout. He had a 3.26 earned run average coming into the game, and about 20 minutes later, it was eclipsing 4.00, the result of an auspicious offensive showing from a lineup that appears to be beginning to stretch its legs.

The six-run first inning gave the Yankees room to breathe as they coasted to an 8-2 victory at Yankee Stadium, the team’s fifth win in a row.

It was the first time since 2011 that the Yankees had forced a starting pitcher out of the game in the first inning. Given that Richards had held opposing hitters to a .205 batting average since the start of last season, he was an unlikely candidate to be victimized in that manner.

But two walks and a single loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning before Mark Teixeira drove in the first run, with a sacrifice fly. A second run scored after Richards threw a wild pitch. Then Brian McCann hit a two-run homer, giving the Yankees four runs before an out was recorded.

The hits kept coming. Carlos Beltran and Didi Gregorius singled. Stephen Drew reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Brett Gardner, the Yankees’ leadoff batter, drove in two more runs on the team’s fifth hit of the inning.

“Our offense is capable of being potent,” Manager Joe Girardi said, “even against the best pitchers.”

While the Yankees continue to wait for their top-of-the-order sparkplug, Jacoby Ellsbury, to return from a sprained knee, the lineup has started to fulfill its potential, finally receiving vital contributions from the bottom of the order. Drew, who is still batting well below .200, hit two home runs Friday. And Beltran returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games and had two hits, raising his average to .313 since May 8.

The production from hitters in the middle of the order, namely Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, has yet to wane. Rodriguez reached base four times Saturday after collecting four hits Friday night. He is nine hits from becoming the 29th major league player to reach 3,000 for his career.

McCann, wearing a new pair of orthotics in his shoes after foot pain caused him to pull himself from Wednesday’s game, has now hit five home runs with 10 runs batted in since May 25.

While the Yankees piled on runs, their starter, Adam Warren, waited in the dugout as his arm cooled, and he fought the natural tendency to relax and lose focus when given a big lead. He did so admirably, allowing two runs and four hits in six and two-thirds innings.

Warren, who pitched mainly in the bullpen the previous two seasons, has found his groove as a starter, allowing 10 runs over his last five starts and stretching into the seventh inning in all five.

“I feel more comfortable going deeper into the game,” Warren said. “Early on, the game seemed so much longer to me. Now I feel a lot more comfortable pitching in the fifth or sixth inning.”

Pitching with the big lead, he glided through the first three innings, needing 36 pitches to retire the first nine hitters in order. The Angels loaded the bases in the fourth, but Warren induced a 6-4-3 double play to erase the threat.

Warren (4-4) escaped further trouble in the fifth, surrendering a sacrifice fly but no further damage after allowing the first two batters to reach base.

“He’s had to make some adjustments,” Girardi said. “He was used to maybe going through the lineup once for the last two years. But he’s figured it out.”

With that, Warren has become one of the team’s most dependable starters.

“It’s important when you can share everything, in a sense,” Girardi said. “You don’t have to rely on one or two starters. Everybody can contribute. And that’s what we’re getting.”

INSIDE PITCH

Joe Girardi sounded reluctant to add a sixth pitcher to the Yankees’ rotation despite the team’s desire to give Michael Pineda additional rest over the coming weeks. Girardi said it was not something he would prefer doing unless Major League Baseball expanded rosters to 26 players. “If they add a person to the roster, now it’s more than feasible,” Girardi said. “But you have to do that.”